Gun sight structure in firearms

ABSTRACT

Gun sight structure for firearms having sight-gap and sightelevation adjustments, with miscellaneous, accommodating, adjustment, and sight pattern structures. The sight includes an inclined ramp feature wherein the sight may be raised and lowered in an appropriate manner. Threaded means accommodate sightcentering as to sight-gap and equal distance of sight opening. Adjustment means is also provided.

United States Patent 1 1 1 1 3,834,035

Merrill Sept. 10, 1974 [54] GUN SIGHT STRUCTURE IN FIREARMS 2,555,8886/1951 Klein 33/241 1751 Inventor: Alvin Merrill, Riverwn, Utah31233133; 131133; 12231251111:1:11:11111131131131111: 3313i? [73]Assignee: Moroni Corporation, Salt Lake City, FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS Ut h a 93,218 8/1897 Germany 33/252 [22] Filed: May 8, 1972[21] Appl. No.: 250,983 Primary ExaminerLouis R. Prince AssistantExaminerRichard R. Stearns [52] U.S. Cl 33/251, 33/241, 33/258 [51] Int.Cl. F4lg l/08,F41g l/16, F4lg H32 STRACT [58] Field of Search 33/251,252, 258, 241, Gun Sight Structure for firearms having Sight gap and33/233 sight-elevation adjustments, with miscellaneous, accommodating,adjustment, and sight pattern struc- [561' References C'ted tures. Thesight includes an inclined ramp feature UNITE STATES PATENTS wherein thesight may be raised and lowered in an ap- 1,425,756 8/1922 Dickey 33/251propriate manner. Threaded means accommodate 1,517,363 12/1924 Kauch etal...... 33/251 sight-centering as to sight-gap and equal distance of1,850,288 3/1932 RObbll'lS 33/251 ight pening Adjustment means isalsoprovided 2,162,090 6/1939 King 33/258 2,377,704 6/1945 Loomis 33/252 3Claims, 15 Drawing Figures 2O I Z |8 o D e 24 i 29 2' 11/1 l III I 1|. 3522 I ll 20 53- M I I 51 23 A B H" l' E 5 l7 l2l I6 PAIENIEB EH 3.8%4035snmenFz Y 75 FIG.IO

FIG.9

GUN SIGHT STRUCTURE IN FIREARMS The present invention relates to gunsight structures and, more particularly, to new and improved gun sightstructures for firearms, accomplishing a number of objectives amongwhich are calibrated variation in sightgaps, alignment structure,sighting pattern structure, and adjustable elevation apparatus.

Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to providenew and improved sight structure.

A further object is to provide sight structure wherein the sighting-gapor gaps may be made adjustable.

A further object is to provide improved sighting structure wherein thesighting-gap thereof is made horizontally adjustable and also centeredfor all adjustments.

An additional object is to provide improved sighting structure foreffecting desired sighting patterns.

An additional object is to provide an improved sighting structurewherein means are provided to effect elevation adjustment of thesighting mechanism.

An additional object is to provide a composite sighting structurewherein both peep and post sights and also wide gap sighting means aresimultaneously provided.

A further object of the invention is to provide peep and post sightstructure in combination with wide gap, quick firing structure.

An additional object is to provide for adjustments of sighting structurealong the longitudinal axis of a firearm barrel.

The features of the present invention may best be understood byreference to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of certain rear sight structure constructedin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an adjustment tool and its components usedto adjust the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, perspective section taken along the line 3-3 inFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, partially sectioned detail taken along thearcuate line 44 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, exploded perspective view of certain adjustmentstructure illustrated in the left-hand portion of FIGS. 1 and 7.

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the line 66 illustrating the co-action ofthe parts of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 1, comprises the same identical structure, butillustrates the wide-gap sighting mechanism as being essentially closedand the same elevated upon the ramp of the sighting structure.

FIG. 8 is a front elevation, principally in section, of the adjustmentscrew usable to vary the horizontal distance between sight elementscomprising the wide-gap sight structure.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of certain sight structurecomprising the front side of the firearm.

FIG. 10 is similar to FIG. 9, shows the identical structure, butillustrates the same as having an essentially closed or narrow gap sightopening and also a centering of the sighting structure over the mountingportion of the sight secured to the barrel of the firearm.

FIG. 11 is a view taken along the line 1l11, is shown principally insection, but illustrates sighting post orientation and a mounting.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view indicating the means in which and themanner by which, the sighting post is maintained in selected,adjustable, vertical disposition.

FIG. 13 is a view, principally in section, of the structure of FIG. 9,the same is centered over the firearm barrel and the structure isadjusted for wide-gap disposition.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged, exploded view of a central portion of thesighting structure of FIG. 9, indicating structure by which an indexingor marking may be achieved.

FIG. 15 illustrates a sighting arrangement as viewed by the user whenthe sights of FIGS. 1 and 9 are aligned and are being sighted upon anobject.

In FIG. 1 a rear sight 10 slides by a lower, central, under-cut aperture12, disposed in base member 11, upon a longitudinal barrel rib 39, seeFIGS. 3 and 7, which is contiguous with barrel periphery aperture 13.Aperture 13, of course, mounts over and is contiguous with thetransverse peripheral surface of the gun barrel. Under-cut aperture orgroove 12, will of course co-act with a corresponding rib 39 disposedlongitudinally of and over the top of a conventional gun barrel. A reargun sight slider 14 includes a slider base 15, itself also including acentral downwardly facing under-cut slot 16, see FIG. 7. The slider base15 is provided with a diamond-shaped peep opening 17 oriented in theposition shown such that the apices thereof, as at A, line up withrespective markings B. The peep sight 17, of course, will proceedcompletely through the slider base 15 in a horizontal direction.

A pair of cooperating sighting elements 18, 18 serve as what is termed anight expander or gap-sight means for purposes hereinafter set forth. Atthis point in the discussion it is sufficient merely to note thatelements l8 and 18' merely co-act together to either reduce or widen thesight opening between walls 19 and 19' thereof. These elements 18 and18', thus, are positioned to slide upon a keying, wedgelike, crossprotuberance 20 which proceeds transversely, completely along the top ofslider base 15. Centering markings 21 and 22 are provided as indexes ofthe rear wall 23 of base 15. These serve as indexes as hereinafter willbe pointed out. Markings 24 and 25 serve as distance or widthindications relative to elements 18 and 18' so that one may easilydetermine from the markings as to how wide a distance D is provided.between these elements. An adjustable screw member 26 includes a coinend slot 26' suitable for actuation as by a coin or by tool 27, see FIG.2. The latter tool may include an allen wrench 28, usable alone as ascrew adjustment piece, and provided with an end fitting 29". The sameis slotted at 30 to receive a slide key 31. The ends 32 of slot key 31may be designed to fit into the key recesses 26' of the screw 26, butprimarily is designed for other purposes as will appear below.

Thus while the tool 27 may conceivably be used for rotating the screw26, nonetheless it may well be preferred to simply use the end E" of theallen wrench in a provided allen wrench recess 26" in a screw, see FIG.7.

Coin end slots 28, as shown, may be provided for conveniently rotating asecond adjustment screw,

screw 29, about its axis as by means of a dime. For some applications ofadjustment of some parts, and returning to FIG. 2, member 31 will beflush with the outside surface 33 of fitting 29".

FIG. 3 thus illustrates the adjustment screw 29 which is transverselydisposed in a corresponding nonthreaded aperture 29" in base 11. Thus,the screw 29 includes a head 30 coin slotted for implement insertion toeffect adjustment screw rotation. A keeper 32 is installed within theenlarged bore 33 so as to provide a retention surface 34 for compressionspring 35. C- retainer 36 fits into a corresponding transverseperipheral groove (not shown) so as to serve as an innerabutment forspring 35. Threads 37 are provided to selectively engage a selected oneof plural threaded apertures 38 in gun barrel rib 39, disposed upon anintegral with the gun barrel 40. End 41 is turned down so as to providea feeler point for the threaded aperture selected.

The adjustment screw 29, therefore, serves as a positioner or keeper andthe spring 35 is employed to assure that vibration or jarring will nottend to release the engagement of the screw 29 with rib 39.

FIG. 4 illustrates, in enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view, arepresentative inner portion of the inner wall W of a representativeelement 18, 18'. Thus, a slot 41 may be provided to receive a markerelement 42. Roll pin 43 may be installed to secure the marker element 42in position within its slot. It is noted that the marker element mayinclude an inwardly directed marker portion 44 having a recess 45receiving a coloring element 46. The coloring element may in fact simplycomprise a paint spot, an illuminous patch, an illuminous paint portion,and so forth.

In returning to FIG. 1 it is seen that base member 11 includes a pair ofopposite inclined ramps 48 and 49, with the latter including anupstanding rack portion 50. This is to say, a series of rack or screwteeth 51 are provided for purposes hereafter explained.

It will be noted that the slide base is constructed at base surfaces E,F to slide up the ramps 48, 49, and to be adjusted in place by index 51relative to markings 52'. An adjustment screw 52 is employed for thispurpose, see FIGS. 1 and 5, with the screw 52 including an allen wrenchrecess 53, a threaded portion 54, a coin end slot 55, a head 56, and amedial, peripheral recess 57. The recess 57 accommodates the upstandingaligned ears 58 and 59 of element 60. Element 60 is secured in place byany suitable attachment means to slider base 15. Thus, as will usuallybe the case, the element 60 will be pressed into a correspondingaperture 53 into base 15, see FIG. 6. A spring-backed ball check 54' isseated within element 60 and is constructed to engage a selected one ofplural ball seats or detents 61 spacedly disposed upon head 56. Thepurpose of the adjustment screw 52 is to releasably and selectively fixthe disposition at slider base 15 relative to base member 11. Thus, thesight elements 18 and 18 may be moved from the position shown in FIG. 1upwardly, by virtue of movement of their base 15 to a new position asshown in FIG. 7 as accomplished through the rotative adjustment ofadjustment screw 52. Additionally, for closing or reducing the distanceD, the adjustment screw at 26 can be rotated such that the two sides 19and 19 of elements 18, 18 come together as seen in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 illustrates the double-threaded nature of screw 26 such that byrotation in a particular direction, the two elements 18 and 18' willmutually advance toward or be withdrawn from each other.

Accordingly, FIGS. 1 through 8 have illustrated the construction of arear sight on a chosen gun barrel, with the diamond-shaped peep beingintact and accessible and operable at all times and for all adjustments(note viewing channel V in base member 11). lmportantly, the gapexpander sight can be elevated and lowered, opened and closed, asdesired. See FIGS. 1 and 7 in this regard. Again, the horizontaldistance between the two elements 18 and 18' is adjustable by adjustmentscrew 26. Positioning along the ramps 48 and 49 is determined by therack-engaging adjustment screw 52. Finally, the entire unit may belocked in place in a chosen rib aperture of the gun by means of lockingscrew 29.

In FIG. 9 boss mount 64 includes upstanding slide surfaces 65 and 66which are co-planar and are disposed on opposite sides of a wedge-shapedportion 67. The latter includes a cylindrical recess or depression 68which serves to seat an adjustment screw 69. The latter issingle-threaded and is rotatable in opposite directions to advance, forwindage, base 70 of sighting means 71. Sighting means 71 also includeselements 72 and 72, similar to elements 18 and 18', which are slideablydisposed upon an undercut, upstanding wedge portion 73 of base 70.Adjustment screw 74 is similar to adjustment screw 26 in FIG. 1 andoperates in essentially the same manner, being double-threaded in themanner shown in FIG. 8 wherein a single rotation will accomplish anequal and opposite movement of sighting elements 72 and 72.

FIG. 10 illustrates the sighting wide gap (18, 18') structure of FIG. 9in closed position, and with the windage adjustment this time being madesuch that the sight is centrally located relative the boss mount 64. Theelements 75 may be exactly identical to elements 42 in FIG. 1.

If desired, and generally this will be the case, the base 70 will beprovided with an upstanding post 76, as seen in FIG. 11. Post 76 isdetailed in FIG. 12 and is shown to include one, two, or more sidelongitudinal slots 77. It will be observed that, here, two slots areused and are disposed diametrically on opposite sides of post 76. It isseen in FIG. 11 that the post 76 is threaded into a central aperture 78of base 70. The post, thus, may be assembled either from the bottom orfrom the top of base 70 but, in any event, upon final desiredadjustment, will be retained in a desired place by virtue of aspring-biased retainer element 79 as backed by spring 80. See theexploded view shown in FIG. 12. A threaded plug 81 includes an allenwrench fitting 82 and is threaded into transverse threaded aperture 83disposed in base 70.

FIG. 13 is an elevation principally in section and taken along the line13--13 in FIG. 10, illustrating the adjustment screws heretoforeexplained and, in addition, showing a plug type lock 76 which pressesdown against gun barrel 40. The plug may be backed by a shortened screw81 that is laterally engaged by keeper 82' in FIG. 13. The same may bebacked by spring 83 and the latter secured in place by threaded plug 84.Plug 84, of course, is threaded into threaded aperture 85 and includesan allen screw wrench opening 86. Apertures 87 and 88 may be providedand include springs 89 and 90 engaging ball 91 and 92 and aperture plugs93 and 94. The keepers may in their own right be metal balls, ifdesired. In any event, screw 69 includes a peripheral recess 95 and hasmutually spaced medial depressions 96 for ball engagement, whereas thespherical groove 97 incorporates ball engagement recesses 98. Hence,what is provided is a spring-loaded detent for each of the adjustmentscrews.

What the structure provides, therefore, in this regard is a click feelsuch that a user may select one, two or three clicks, as small,intermediate or large individual adjustments; depending of course uponthe positioning of the ball depressions and the dimensions of the parts,as well as the screw pitch and the travel desired, a variety of numberof clicks" may be provided for. In FIG. 13 it is noted that three slotsas well as allen screw depressions as at C and D are provided each ofthe screws at their respective screw ends. This provision is likewiseprovided relative to the adjustment screws shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 14 illustrates that for night use there may be provided in theraised portion 73, see FIG. 9, an undercut slot 99 which may be providedwith a luminescent or other luminous material at 100. Insert 101 isapertured at 102 to provide an index margin in the shape of an arrow.This will serve to mask off and yet visually reveal the luminous dot100. Such an index marking 102, in combination with the luminous paintor other material at 100, will assist in night firing of the fire arm.Thus, see FIG. 15, the manner in which the structure can be usedrelative to the front sight for night firing contemplates the concept ofactually centering the target between elements 75 on opposite sides ofthe front sight and above the index marking formed by element 101.Accordingly, for night use it will be seen that the firing display willbe observed, with dots X, luminous paints, fiber optics, or other, beingobserved on the outside; luminous dots Y of the front sight being on theinside, and with mask 102 forming dot 103 of luminous paint 100, beingdisposed underneath the sighted target.

In operation, what is presented in connection with the front sight is anadjustment for windage, see FIG. 9, an adjustment for sight gap, seeFIGS. and 13, and also a composite sighting configuration which, inconjunction with the sighting dots of the rear sight of FIG. 1, offer aneffective sighting pattern, as illustrated in FIG. 15.

Post 76 and tip E thereof can be positioned vertically such as to beuseful not only for sighting in connection with the diamond-shaped sight17, in FIG. 1, but also assume a point elevation E which will beregularly useful in connection with the gap sight as provided byelements 72 and 72', with the diagonal peep sight at 17, and also isuseful in connection with the pattern of FIG. 15.

The tool of FIG. 2, as shown in exploded view is useful in adjusting thepost sight 76 and FIG. 12, this by the portions 32 engaging the slot 77in the post sight. All of the allen screws, in fact, may be adjusted byrecourse through the tool 27 in FIG. 2, where the same are pro videdwith either the coin slots, or provided with allen wrench recesses, andso forth.

It is seen that the present invention provides a double-open sight thatmay be adjusted laterally and which may be used either day or night forquick kill situations, this by increasing or decreasing said gap oneither front or rear sights, or a combination of the two, according tothe light and range requirements of the shooter. The same can be used asa combination of sights quickly and effectively by the shooter accordingto the ambient light situation.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art the variouschanges and modifications which may be made without departing from theessential features of the present invention and, therefore, the aim inthe appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications asfall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Rear sight structure including, in combination, a sight constructedfor mounting to a firearm barrel, said sight including a transverselyoriented base, a pair of transversely spaced, upstanding sight elementsslideably mounted on said base and constructed to form with the uppersurface of said base a quick-fire, shortrange sighting gap, meanscarried by said base and engaging said sight elements for adjusting thehorizontal spacing therebetween, said base including a mediallydisposed, long-range-peep sight hole vertically spaced below the gapformed by said sight elements.

2. Sight structure for a firearm having a barrel, said sight structureincluding, in combination, a front sight and a rear sight spacedrearwardly thereof, said front sight including a first pair ofadjustable gap-forming sighting elements, a post upstanding centrallybehind such gap, and means for adjusting the horizontal spacing betweensaid first pair of sighting elements, said rear sight including a secondpair of sighting elements, which together with said upper surface ofsaid base form a sighting gap, a peep sight hole disposed in said basecentrally beneath such gap, and means for adjusting the horizontalspacing of said second pair of sighting elements, said front and rearsights including luminous sighting markings constructed for horizontalalignment when the user is sighting an object.

3. Structure according to claim 2 wherein said front sight includes acentral marking disposed centrally of and beneath said respective sightelements.

1. Rear sight structure including, in combination, a sight constructedfor mounting to a firearm barrel, said sight including a transverselyoriented base, a pair of transversely spaced, upstanding sight elementsslideably mounted on said base and constructed to form with the uppersurface of said base a quick-fire, short-range sighting gap, meanscarried by said base and engaging said sight elements for adjusting thehorizontal spacing therebetween, said base including a mediallydisposed, long-range-peep sight hole vertically spaced below the gapformed by said sight elements.
 2. Sight structure for a firearm having abarrel, said sight structure including, in combination, a front sightand a rear sight spaced rearwardly thereof, said front sight including afirst pair of adjustable gap-forming sighting elements, a postupstanding centrally behind such gap, and means for adjusting thehorizontal spacing between said first pair of sighting elements, saidrear sight including a second pair of sighting elements, which togetherwith said upper surface of said base form a sighting gap, a peep sighthole disposed in said base centrally beneath such gap, and means foradjusting the horizontal spacing of said second pair of sightingelementS, said front and rear sights including luminous sightingmarkings constructed for horizontal alignment when the user is sightingan object.
 3. Structure according to claim 2 wherein said front sightincludes a central marking disposed centrally of and beneath saidrespective sight elements.